An ancient Daddy-long-legs myth is that in the old days, it was believed that you could use daddy-long-legs to find your lost cattle. When you wanted to know which direction the herd had went, you could pick up a daddy-long-leg by all of the legs but one, and the free leg would point in the direction of the cattle (or so it was believed). It was also believed that if you kill a daddy-long-leg, it will rain the next day.

Daddy-long-legs, also known as Harvestmen, are members of the class Arachnid. They are not insects but are related to them through the phylum Arthropod. Harvestmen are often confused with spiders, but they are not true spiders. Spiders have two body segments that are distinct and separated. On harvestmen the two body segments appear fused into a single large body segment similar to mites and ticks. Also, spiders have venomous fangs, whereas the fangs of harvestmen have no venom glands.